Rent freezes “don’t work generally” but should still be introduced, the Labour party has argued. 

Rents in Ireland have surged by 12% in the space of only a year and it has been suggested that a rent freeze would ease the burden of tenants struggling during the cost of living crisis. 

Labour are calling for the Government to introduce the freeze but have warned that it is not a silver bullet for the country’s housing woes. 

“What we are calling for is a short-term, three year rent freeze while supply catches up,” Senator Rebecca Moynihan, the party’s housing spokesperson, told The Hard Shoulder. 

“Rent freezes can have a limited role in being able to keep in place current rental levels but they don’t work generally in the long-term. 

“But I do think as a time limited and time sensitive measure they can work.” 

Renters' rights

Senator Moynihan also said that tenants should be given more rights that will provide them with security of tenure.

“I think we should be getting rid of grounds of sale as a way to evict,” she said. 

“If you’re going to get involved and you’re investing in the housing market, I think you have to understand that you’re providing people with a home, they deserve security of tenure and we should be banning that as a ground for eviction.” 

Irish housing market. Image: mauritius images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

The party also wants tenants greater freedom to use their home as they see fit. 

“[We want to] allow things like pets within rental accommodation,” she said. 

“Some landlords don’t allow [that]. 

“They’re the kind of issues that we want to look at and I think it’s much more important to come at it from the perspective of the tenant as opposed to who owns it.”

Main image: Labour's housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan in the portico at Leinster House, 05-05-2021. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews